Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Tony Fossas, 1992 Boston Red Sox

Tony "The Mechanic" Fossas [no relation to Chris "Tractor Mechanic" Hoiles] has long been held out as the worst situational pitcher cliche. An undistinguished "lefty specialist" who somehow managed to worm his way into over 500 games despite a merely decent ERA (3.90), Fossas is the only pitcher in history to appear in 60 or more games in a season and fail to reach 30 innings pitched. To be exact, Fossas pitched in exactly 60 games and accumulated just 29.2 innings, despite a sparkling 2.43 ERA. One suspects Fossas' (and all lefty specialists') place on the roster was something of a false economy, though, given the southpaw's ugly 1.517 WHIP.